Comptroller and Auditor General has taken serious view of widespread financial irregularities in various Government Departments and public service undertakings in the State. What is simply astonishing is that seniors at the helm of affairs in the departments or at PSUs are devoid of sensitivity and sense of responsibility says CAG in its report for the period ending March 2014. The findings of the CAG should have thrown the alleged departments into embarrassment but we find that there is no impact whatsoever. The case of autonomous bodies is bizarre as they are showing reluctance even to submit their annual accounts for regular audit. The normal procedure is that after the completion of audit Inspection Report is sent to the departments or PSUs who are supposed to furnish their replies within one month and the audit findings are settled or further action as advised by the CAG is taken.
During several years in the past CAG has pointed out several irregularities and deficiencies in regard to various audits it has conducted but despite advice, these have not been removed. As such the irregularities persist which are bound to have negative impact on administration’s efficiency? These irregularities pertain to various programmes / activities as well as the quality of internal controls in selected departments. The focus was on auditing the specific programmes/schemes and to offer suitable recommendations to the executive for taking corrective action and improving service delivery to the citizens.
Five Performance Audits and 36 Paragraphs proposed to be included in the report of CAG for the year ended March 31, 2014 were sent to the Principal Secretaries/Secretaries of the respective departments. However, replies in respect of one Performance Audit and nine Paragraphs were not received till October 2014. According to the data of CAG, there was opening balance of 8037 Inspection Reports and 29751 Paragraphs as on April 1, 2013 and during the year 2013-14, there was addition of 1216 Inspection Reports and 8059 Paragraphs.
The question is that Auditing and Accounting of the performance of the departments is not merely in terms of financial input and output as is generally believed by observers. The implication of CAG’s report reaches beyond those premises. What is more important is the assessment of implementation of various programmes and projects, the impact of their implementation on the standard of life and the support it gives to the economy and progress of the State. It is also to alert the State administration about the waste of funds if the CAG finds that there were invested in unproductive enterprise. To plug these loopholes and to help departments in proper utilization of funds, CAG conducts the survey. For example, one important deficiency brought out by the CAG in its several reports is the lack of internal control in many departments. This gives scope for perpetuation of irregularity that might have crept into the system. The departments are required to settle the observations and findings but in the case of our State, the CAG is facing something like non-cooperative attitude. It is no secret that CAG has found many financial irregularities and these have not been settled.
The Government has adopted non-serious attitude towards the Inspection Reports of the CAG year after year. It says that the Government has become a mute spectator. This is despite the fact that handbook of instructions for speedy settlement of Audit Observations/Inspection Reports issued by the Finance Department provides for prompt response by the executive to the Inspection Reports issued by the Principal Accountant General (Audit) and Accountant General (Audit) to ensure remedial action and fix accountability for the deficiencies and lapses.
The case of many PSUs is much more surprising. It seems they have taken it for granted that they are not obliged to respond to the observations of the CAG just because there is much involvement of official agencies in their functioning. For example, the CAG has brought to the fore that a total of 365 annual accounts of 32 Autonomous Bodies were awaited in Audit as on March 31, 2014. Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils of Leh and Kargil, Sher-i-Kashmir Universities of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu and Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir Legal Services Authority, Srinagar and Provident Fund Organization, Srinagar have not submitted 67 accounts during the period ranging between one to 19 years in the past. These Autonomous Bodies are getting substantial funding from the State. But they are not submitting account for the huge funding they receive. How come that they can escape accountability for so many years? It is pertinent to mention here that during the financial year 2013-14 these Autonomous Bodies received Rs 831.28 crore grants from the State.
This is a serious situation. The CAG is a constitutional body with specific terms of reference. The States are obliged to cooperate and implement corrective measures suggested by the CAG. Defiance of its observations, instructions and reports is an unhealthy development. The Government cannot adopt ostrich like attitude and simply stand as a mute spectator. It has to act and enforce the rule of law which is being violated under its very nose. Implementation and action on the audit reports of the constitutional body is one of the ways how acts of corruption, graft and inefficiency are overcome.
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